Full-Text Articles in Political Science

Political Science Faculty Research and Scholarship

Through a study of China’s wind turbine sector, this paper demonstrates how China liberally implements industrial policies and then removes them when the WTO disputes them. China’s convenient compliance with the WTO rulings reflects Beijing’s realpolitik navigation through the organization’s dispute-resolution process, rather than socialization to international norms.

On The Social And Political Effects Of Opening In Rural China, Housi Cheng, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

What are the economic, social and political effects when previously isolated villages are opened to the outside world? Scholars from different traditions expect different sorts of positive or negative affects to occur. Rural China presents an ideal environment to study this question empirically. Villages within rural China are in the process of being opened to the outside world in different forms, such as through being connected by road, the investment of agribusiness, or urbanization. Moreover this opening is being driven and shaped by different actors, including local residents, government and businesses. The different ways and actors that this opening occurs ...

Digital Narratives of Asia

Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Kishore Mahbubhani is a retired diplomat and respected author. He shares with DNA his 5C theory of leadership, as well as his thoughts on working with Singapore’s founding leaders.

Baghdadi’S Bunker: Five Essential Tasks For Which The World Should Now Prepare, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: The Islamic State Organization (ISO) will be defeated. That defeat will occur sooner rather than later. The nature of this terrorist organization suggests that preparations should now be made to minimize the carnage, loss of irreplaceable life, and cultural treasures that may without sufficient preparation accompany the final days and aftermath of ISO.

The Role Of Iran Policy The Saudi-American Rift, Christopher Parmly

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores what effect Saudi and American policy differences towards Iran have had on their bilateral relations. It is based on the recent thaw in Iran-U.S. relations, and the critical reaction of the Saudi government towards this policy. The question has two components – first, how severe the current Saudi-American rift is, and second, to what extent it can be traced to their differences over Iran. The topic will be addressed through process-tracing methods.

The thesis concludes that there is indeed a rift in Saudi-U.S. relations marked by an increasingly assertive and independent Saudi foreign policy, though its ...

Center for Conflict Management Affiliated Conference Proceedings

This document represents a summary of the proceedings of the multi-stakeholder workshop “Impact of Aid Reduction on Local Civil Society in States in Transition,” held at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, November 2-3, 2015 and cosponsored by USIP, Kennesaw State University, CIFAL Atlanta, and the US Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute.

Research Collection School Of Law

Magna Carta became applicable to Singapore in 1826 when a court system administering English law was established in the Straits Settlements. This remained the case through Singapore’s evolution from Crown colony to independent republic. The Great Charter only ceased to apply in 1993, when Parliament enacted the Application of English Law Act to clarify which colonial laws were still part of Singapore law. Nonetheless, Magna Carta’s legacy in Singapore continues in a number of ways. Principles such as due process of law and the supremacy of law are cornerstones of the rule of law, vital to the success ...

The Un, Regional Sanctions And Africa, Andrea Charron, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Africa is the continent most targeted by sanctions. During the Cold War, when the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was all but paralysed, the only sanctions regimes that the UN imposed were directed at countries located on the African continent: Southern Rhodesia and South Africa, penalized for their apartheid regimes. In the post-Cold War era, Africa has continued to register the highest frequency of sanctions, applied not only by the UN but by other organizations as well. Africa’s own regional bodies, such as the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), are active in ...

In Search Of Peace: Restructuring The Us-Iran Relationship In Light Of The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action, Samuel E. Winkler

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis attempts to ask how the United States should conduct foreign policy towards Iran given the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), agreed to on 14 June 2015. The 2015 JCPOA initiated a drastic shift in US foreign policy toward Iran. It is now up to US policy makers to craft a coherent Iran foreign policy moving forward from the agreement. In order to accomplish this, the vitriolic relationship between Iran and the United States, which contains two concurrent narratives, must be examined. The dual narratives are the history of the successive US Presidential administrations’ relations with Iran, and ...

In Search Of Safety, Negotiating Everyday Forms Of Risk: Sex Work, Criminalization, And Hiv/Aids In The Slums Of Kampala, Serena Cruz

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation offers an in-depth descriptive account of how women manage daily risks associated with sex work, criminalization, and HIV/AIDS. Primary data collection took place within two slums in Kampala, Uganda over the course of fourteen months. The emphasis was on ethnographic methodologies involving participant observation and informal and unstructured interviewing. Insights then informed document analysis of international and national policies concerning HIV prevention and treatment strategies in the context of Uganda. The dissertation finds social networks and social capital provide the basis for community formation in the sex trade. It holds that these interpersonal processes are necessary components ...

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Nuclear arms have revolutionized the ways by which human beings are able to harm one another. Omnipresent in the status quo is a nuclear tension, and whether subtly or more overtly, this tension underlies a great many international relationships. While Westphalian paranoia and neorealist power perceptions encourage populations to continue placing their faith in nuclear umbrellas and deterrence strategies, scholars and activists increasingly claim that without the realization of universal disarmament, humanity concedes to the inevitability of future nuclear detonation.

New disarmament initiatives concentrate heavily on the implications of nuclear weaponry in a sense that supersedes the security of only ...

The History Of Us-Iran Relations And Its Effect On The Jcpoa Negotiations, Chase Mccain

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Relations between the United States and the Islamic Republic have ranged from limited to non-existent over the past 36 years, and have been impeded by threatening rhetoric and perceived betrayals on both sides. The elections of Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani allowed for relations to move forward, but both presidents are hampered by people within their governments who are unwilling to let go of ingrained threat perceptions and distrust of the other. Despite these challenges, the P5+1 and Iran managed to create the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for Iran’s nuclear program, which can be used as a ...

The Right Of Return: International Representation Of Palestinian Refugee Rights, Ariella Hohl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study focuses on Palestinian identity in refugee camps and their international representation of rights by the PLO. The goal of this research is to understand how the meaning of the Right of Return has developed through generations of Palestinian refugees residing in camps, in contrast with the international community discourse presented by the PLO on this topic.

After almost two decades since the PLO’s leadership renewal, a gap is visible between Palestinian political representation and the sentiments of Palestinians on the ground. There are growing perceptions dissatisfaction with the current leadership, especially from the perspective of refugees. More ...

Flight From The Fight? Civil War And Its Effects On Refugees, Paul D. Lowry

Student Publications

Civil war dominates conflict in the modern era. An effect of this is a large number of refugees, who flee from war-torn countries in favor of lands where they can live in safety. This paper examines the extent to which the number of these refugees is affected by the number of civil wars a country has had in a year. Previous literature suggests that civil wars increase destruction in a state and threaten people’s lives, which encourages migration out of a warring country. Based on this, this paper hypothesizes that increasing the number of civil wars in a country ...

Student Publications

In this research project I am seeking to gauge youth participation in and attitudes towards the South African democratic process. As in many democratic societies, there is a perception by some that the youth of South Africa are apathetic to issues related to politics and government. In this study I seek to evaluate youth perspectives of democracy based on what they have been taught in school and at home, levels of youth political participation, attitudes towards the African National Congress’s (ANC) dominance of South African politics, perceptions of political alternatives to the ANC, young people’s engagement with nongovernmental ...

Socioeconomic Differences In Antenatal Care Between The United States And Scandinavia, Joshua B. Kiehl

Student Publications

Despite their analogous status as economically developed nations, the United States and Scandinavian countries have marked differences in their healthcare systems. In particular both areas discernibly differ in the antenatal treatment provided for expecting women and their babies. Sweden and Denmark’s healthcare systems are universal, run primarily on taxpayer dollars, and provide equal antenatal care regardless of socioeconomic status. The United States’ healthcare system is run on a combination of private and government run insurance, in which socioeconomic status often determines insurance coverage. This variability in insurance coverage often results in differing levels of antenatal care. An overarching question ...

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

For thirty-two years under former President Suharto’s New Order regime (from 1966-1998), the teaching of Chinese languages in schools was banned in Indonesia. During this period of total assimilation, public displays of Chinese characters were prohibited along with other forms of Chinese cultural expressions, allegedly for the sake of national unity. From 1966-69, hundreds of Chinese medium schools and Chinese language press were closed in Chinese settlements throughout the archipelago and the formal teaching of Chinese languages in Indonesia effectively ceased. As a result, the majority of contemporary Chinese Indonesians no longer have the ability to speak, let alone ...

Hanif Omar [Malaysia, Inspector General Of Police], Hanif Omar

Digital Narratives of Asia

DNA finds out from former Malaysia Inspector General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar, what shaped his values, how he joined the Government, also his insights on the independent era and the Communist threat. He also reveals his take on Singapore's expulsion, and the leaders involved.

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The South China Sea (SCS) is becoming an increasingly contentious source of geopolitical tension due to its significance as an international trade route, possessor of potentially significant oil and natural gas resources, China’s increasing diplomatic and military assertiveness, and the U.S.’ recent and ongoing Pacific Pivot strategy. Countries as varied as China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and other adjacent countries have claims on this region’s islands and natural resources. China has been particularly assertive in asserting its SCS claims by creating a nine-dash line map claiming to give it de facto maritime control over this entire region ...

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"The profile of an illustrious Sierra Leonean, Dr. Christiana Thorpe, epitomizes a success story worthy of emulation. The cultivation of sustainable peace and political stability through the eyes of social activism, service for gender parity, and electoral and education reforms are at the heart of this account. Christiana’s kind heartedness and relentless urge to labor in the service of her country and mankind make her a unique and fascinating peace maker."

Deal With Iran's Nuclear Issue, Khadijeh Salimi, Regina Karp

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

In December 2006, the UN announced the first resolution against Iran's nuclear activities. After many sanctions and negotiations, there still exists no definite agreement between parties over Iran's nuclear program. The objective of this study is to determine whether Iran's nuclear program has become Iran's identity. It is assumed that if the nuclear issue has not become Iran's identity, negotiation would be a useful threat. The Constructivists' approach for shaping states' identities was used in this study to analyze Iran's behavior toward the nuclear issue. Iran has a long history of civilization. Iranians can ...

Five Phases Of Brokered International Marriages In South Korea: A Complexity Perspective, Jiyoung Song

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The paper examines the evolution in international commercial marriage migration from Southeast Asia to South Korea from a Complexity Theory (CT) framework, originally from natural sciences but vastly entering the field of social sciences. CT stresses the non-linear nature of complex systems that are composed of a large number of individual components operating within a conditioned boundary whose interactions lead emergent properties in an unpredictable way. The study is based on the author’s fieldwork interviews and participatory observations of marriage migrants, government officers, and social workers in South Korea in 2010-2013, which establishes five phases of brokered marriages, namely ...

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

All international sanctions are embedded in larger contexts of overlapping policy instruments and other sanctions regimes. Yet we tend to look at sanctions and evaluate their effectiveness from the vantage point of a single sender of sanctions – whether it is the UN, the EU, or an individual country like the United States – rather than consider the combined and interactive effects of different, co-existing sanctions regimes. EU sanctions tend to be imposed in conjunction with measures by other actors: their interplay deserves closer analysis in terms of sequencing, objectives, complexity and legitimacy. The latter is particularly important, given recent criticisms of ...

Member States Resistance To Eu Foreign Policy Sanctions, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

European Union (EU) sanctions are agreed in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), a framework where the unanimity rule prevails and where individual Member States have a formal veto. Thus, Member State compliance with sanctions can be expected to be optimal: If Member States have serious objections to the imposition of sanctions, they can veto their adoption in the Council.Yet, while implementation is comparatively satisfactory, Member States have availed of opportunities to undermine the application of EU sanctions regimes at various levels. On the basis of the theoretical framework provided by Saurugger and Terpan, the present article explores ...

Anan Kalinta [Thailand, Royal Thai Airforce], Anan Kalinta

Digital Narratives of Asia

Anan Kalinta was the Deputy Commander-in-Chief for the Royal Thai Airforce as well as Minister of the Interior in 1991-1992. He shares with DNA his thoughts about what it takes to be a leader in the military, as well as military intervention in politics.

Wang Gungwu [Hong Kong, Vice-Chancellor Hku, Historian], Wang Gungwu

Digital Narratives of Asia

Renown historian Wang Gungwu has helmed several academic institutions, including the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as Vice-Chancellor from 1986-1995. In this DNA interview, he tells of how he worked to help HKU manage the historic transition from colonial British rule to the Chinese "One-country-two-systems" rule, and along the way, grow the university's research side of the house as well.

Peace and Conflict Management Working Papers Series

On March 4, 2013, Kenyans went to the polls to elect the president, vice-president, senators, county governors, and members of parliament. Tension was high; fears and uncertainties gripped the nation, and the international community watched with keen interest. Five years earlier, on December 27, 2007, a similar event had resulted in a horrific post-election violence (PEV) that left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced, and that disrupted the economic and social conditions of the country and the entire sub-region. As the 2013 elections approached, the fear became palpable that there might be a recurrence. Those fears were unrealized; Kenya ...

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Despite a history of participatory policies, Thailand’s Royal Irrigation Department (RID) has had little success in developing water user organisations (WUOs) capable of facilitating cooperation between farmers and the irrigation agency. Even so, pockets of participation exist. What can explain these rare successes? What policy lessons can they provide? Comparing nine WUOs, I identify factors that contribute to the emergence of relatively successful groups. Most importantly, I show that successful WUOs are contingent on the actions of local irrigation officials. These findings emphasise the important role of street-level bureaucrats in implementing participatory policies. The incentive structures provided by the ...

Pung Chhiv Kek [Cambodia, Activist], Pung Chhiv Kek

Digital Narratives of Asia

Dr Pung Chhiv Kek is the Founder and President of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and was nominated in 2005 for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize project. Apart from her work to improve the rights and lives of Cambodians, she talks to DNA about her efforts to bring Hun Sen and Sihanouk together for talks, which later led to the Peace Accords of 1991.